Perhaps it was taking a chance to drive over such a rocky surface, and especially so close to the brink, but she had done so until now without incurring disaster, although the springs of her ancient car protested warn-ingly. There was no one else about when she turned off the road, only a couple of vague figures in the distance driving a cart of some kind, and she slowed almost to a standstill as she prepared for the first shock of driving on to the rocks. Even so she gritted her teeth against the jolting bumps that seemed to jar every bone in her body, while reminding herself not to go too dangerously close to the sheer drop that plunged down to the sea.
CLOSE TO THE HEART TJ
'Idiot!'
The expletive was made in response to a sudden jarring lurch when one of the front wheels hit a larger rock than usual and the steering-wheel was snatched from her hands. But self-recrimination became a sudden cry of alarm when she realised the car was veering towards a large rock that loomed ahead, and that she was virtually helpless to do anything but shift her foot hastily to the footbrake.
What happened next Lisa had no clear idea, for the sudden application of the brake had thrown her forward and brought her head into brief contact with the edge of the windscreen. She lost consciousness and slumped across the steering-wheel, lost to the world for a few moments and completely unaware of what was going on around her.
The first thing she became aware of was the sound of men's voices, and that only in a vague and indistinct way at first. They were speaking Arabic, that much her fuddled brain registered after a few seconds, and one voice in particular seemed to be more audible than the other, as if the owner of it was closer to her.
Hands moved across her forehead, anxiously clumsy hands that probably were meant to be soothing but instead alarmed her, because she could not for the moment think what had happened to her. Her head ached and her eyelids felt much too heavy to open, nor could she seem to stop herself from drifting into occasional moments of oblivion.
Then she felt the sun on her face suddenly, as if whoever had been bending over her had moved aside, and amid the murmur of voices she caught the word effendi, then a short silence. She was still unable to rouse herself sufficiently to open her eyes, but she began to register and to recognise certain facts.
over her, when the sun's heat was cut off again and her face was in cool shade. And that the basic, masculine smell of her first attendant had been replaced by the tangy sophistication of an expensive brand of French after-shave.
Then once more exploratory fingers moved across her brow at the hairline, but this time the touch was more assured, as well as firm but gentle. Lisa gave an involuntary moan when the fingers touched a spot more tender than the rest and again wafted off into semiconsciousness before she could decide why there was something oddly familiar about the proximity of the new arrival.
When next she became aware of anything it was to find herself being carried in a pair of strong arms, while her head lolled against the comforting solidity of a masculine shoulder. There was something so infinitely reassuring about the situation that she was content to let it go on for the moment. Her face turned from the heat of the sun and her cheek pressed to what she was becoming increasingly aware was the softness of a freshly laundered shirt, warmed by the masculine body it covered.
He must have been very strong, for he held her easily, whoever he was. 'Mademoiselle?'
The voice struck an immediate chord; deep and quiet and extraordinarily attractive, and Lisa was not quite sure whether the moan she gave when she recognised it was audible or not. Her eyelids fluttered but her eyes remained closed and she tucked her face more firmly into the hollow of his shoulder.
The last time she had heard that voice it had been threatening to have her thrown into a police cell if she did not leave Sheik Abahn's garden at once, and she had no desire to face Yusuf ben Dacra again at the moment. Voices murmured again and a few moments later she
was laid with infinite care on to what felt like a comfortable bed.
One hand kept her head from lolling sideways again while long fingers stroked the hair from her forehead with slow gentle movements. But Lisa kept her eyes closed still rather than look into those relentlessly fierce features she remembered so well, and which seemed to be hovering above her, judging by the proximity of his voice.
'Mademoiselle, try to open your eyes, please!'
The voice once more broke insistently into her lethargy, and Lisa obeyed it almost instinctively, raising her heavy lids as far as it was possible at the moment, and looking up at him with the vagueness of semiconsciousness still veiling her eyes. Both the hand on her brow and the one supporting her head were withdrawn the moment he realised she was conscious, and he eased himself back from a rather awkward kneeling position beside the car seat she lay on. His car obviously, since it was large and opulent and smelled of new leather and that distinctive French after-shave.
He ducked back through the car door and stood looking down at her for a moment, and with the harsh Moroccan sun behind him and the indistinct shapes of a couple of men in traditional country garb behind him he looked curiously unreal for a moment. Then he ducked his head inside again and eyed her with only a little less fierceness than last night. His mouth was firm and straight, as if he saw the necessity of coming to her aid as just another attempt to annoy him.
'I am pleased to see that you are recovered, mademoiselle,' he said in the impeccable English Geoffrey had remarked on. Tour vehicle, unfortunately, is in a much worse condition. Do you feel able to sit up?'
Lisa had little option to decide for herself, for he knelt between the front and back seats and slid an arm
under her shoulders, raising her from the soft leather seat and bringing her into closer proximity with himself. He had no jacket on, and the pale fawn shirt he wore fitted his muscular frame like a second skin, showing the shadow of teak-brown skin through its fine texture and a slash of brown throat at the open neck. He was an infinitely disturbing man at such close quarters, she found, and she quite inexplicably resented the fact.
Apparently assuming that she was capable of sitting up alone, he moved back to stand outside again, and Lisa was able to take better stock of him without being distracted by his physical nearness. Fawn trousers exactly matched the open-necked shirt and fitted over lean hips and powerful-looking legs, as he stood looking in at her, but he lost none of his arrogance, or his suggestion of power, for being casually dressed. He was every bit as impressive in daylight as he had been in Sheik Abahn's garden last night, and no less overwhelming.
It was Lisa who broke the silence because she found it much too discomfiting in the circumstances, and because that steady dark gaze seemed to express something much different from polite sympathy. Tm not sure what happened/ she ventured, and the answer came unhesitatingly; as uncompromising as she should have expected from him.
'It appears that you drove off the road and on to the rocks quite deliberately, mademoiselle/ he informed her, leaving her in no doubt that he believed it. These two men were not too far away and they saw it happen.' The dark eyes held hers steadily and she did her best not to let her own waver and give way. They are of the opinion that you must be suffering from too much sun,' he added, 'and it is an opinion I find myself having to agree with, since I cannot imagine anyone in her right mind attempting to drive a car on to such a surface.'
'Well, you're wrong!' Lisa declared swiftly and indignantly. But indignation and the sudden upward jerk of her head sent a jarring pain searing across her brow and she looked at him as reproachfully as if he had been personally responsible for it, while she clasped a hand to her aching head. 'I've driven off the road at that point several times before, and parked my car, without anything like this happening.'
Then you have been very fortunate,' Yusuf ben Dacra decreed without hesitation. 'Did you never stop to consider the danger of such an action?' Lisa said nothing, but kept her eyes lowered, feeling more sorry for herself than ever because there was so lit
tle she could say in her own defence. 'You are also very fortunate not to have been more seriously hurt in this instance; you could very easily have ended your life on the rocks below there.'
Lisa resented his lecturing her, mostly because she knew that what he said was right, though she had no intention of admitting it and giving him the satisfaction. She felt tremblingly unsteady and she wanted sympathy, not condemnation, though it was unlikely to be forthcoming from this man. A guarded, upward glance showed impatience in the dark watching eyes, not sympathy, and she made another attempt to justify her actions.
'I've managed perfectly well until now/ she insisted huskily. 'I just happened to be unlucky this time and hit a rock, that's all.'
'It would be difficult to do otherwise, driving over a surface that consists entirely of rocks,' he remarked with undisguised contempt, and Lisa realised that the two men watching were taking an increasing interest in what they were saying. Whether or not they spoke any English it must be fairly evident that the conversation between herself and Yusuf ben Dacra verged on a
quarrel. *Whatever the cause/ he went on, 'the result is that you now have no car.'
He made the observation without a hint of sympathy and Lisa, with a hand to her throbbing head, looked at him uncertainly. It was maddening to feel so helpless when she normally considered herself such an independent woman, and it seemed, having rescued her, Yusuf ben Dacra was in no hurry to offer further assistance.
She felt curiously isolated too, with the three men standing as they were in a group, for it made her feel as~ if they were all in league and had unanimously decided that she was a headstrong female who suddenly found herself out of her depth. Watched by three pairs of dark eyes, she swung her legs off the seat and edged towards the door, wondering how on earth she was going to bring herself to ask Yusuf ben Dacra's help in getting home.
She would probably have managed to get out of the car alone even though her legs felt so unsteady, but no sooner had she put her feet to the ground than her hands were grasped by two large strong ones that drew her up from the seat and steadied her for a moment. It was for only a few seconds, but Lisa was appalled by how urgently her pulses responded while his strong fingers were curled about hers, engulfing them in a firm masculine warmth that sent shivers of sensation shivering along her spine.
When he released her his fingers seemed to slide away with an almost sensual slowness that startled her. 'You have only a slight injury to your forehead/ he informed her. 'It is nothing that needs medical attention, but you are very fortunate indeed to have escaped so lightly/
'So you've already said!' The retort was irresistible, although Lisa knew she was being very ungracious in the circumstances. When she put an exploratory hand to
CLOSE TO THE HEART J3
her head she caught her breath, for it proved more painful than she expected, and she wondered if he was deliberately underplaying her injuries. There was a bump just near the hairline and the skin was grazed. 'It hurts a lot, even if it isn't very bad/ she told him. 'I must have hit my head on the windscreen when I braked.'
'It would seem so,' Yusuf ben Dacra concurred. 'You were unconscious when I arrived, although these men had lifted you from the car and laid you on the ground in what little shade they could find. It was little enough, but they did what they could.'
'And I'm grateful to them.' It came back to her then, and Lisa felt a new and disturbing response to the recollection of being carried in his arms. Of the reassuring strength of them and of the sensation of a warm masculine body pressed to her cheek. 'You carried me to your car/ she said, with unaccustomed meekness. That was very kind of you.'
From his expression she gathered that her thanks were something he could well have managed without, and he brushed them aside with the merest suggestion of a nod. 'It was necessary to move you into more shade/ he told her shortly, 'and my car offered the most comfortable alternative/
Thank you anyway/
Her hands strayed once more to her head and she winced involuntarily when her fingers touched the slight bump. It probably felt much worse than it looked, she realised, but she was still slightly muzzy-headed and she was beginning to wonder how she was going to get home unless it was with his help—something that his present attitude seemed to suggest was unlikely.
'I seem to be in rather a predicament, don't IV she said, and smiled a little warily while trying to judge his reaction through half-lowered lashes.
There was nothing in the dark-eyed gaze to encourage
her, only a hint of impatience, and for a moment she wondered if he really would leave her there to make her own way back without any further assistance from him. 'Do you live in Casablanca, mademoiselle? 9 Lisa nodded cautiously. Then of course you will drive back with me.'
Lisa was imagining the drive back, side by side with the man she had gone to so much trouble to see last night, and she found herself unable to anticipate it without a certain tingle of excitement. 'That's very kind of you, Mr ben Dacra,' she said, as coolly as she was able, 'if you're sure it won't be out of your way.'
'You are aware of the fact that I live in Casablanca, mademoiselle,' he reminded her. 'And unless you are prepared to wait out here for a taxi to collect you, or you are proposing to walk home, I see no alternative. Your car is out of action and in any case you are not in a fit state to drive yourself at the moment.'
If only he had sounded more enthusiastic about it, Lisa would have felt better, but she supposed a grudging offer of help was better than none at all, and she nodded vague agreement with his reasoning without saying anything. She was thinking what an opportunity it would have been in other circumstances to remedy her failure last night, but she could hardly make threats to a man who was helping her.
As it was her reticence must have given him the wrong idea, for he regarded her frowningly when she did no more than nod in response to his suggestion, and when she glanced at him she realised what a contradictory creature he must think her. Last night she had been prepared to risk being locked in a cell to see him, and today she showed little enthusiasm for the prospect of driving back to Casablanca with him.
'When you have made up your mind whether or not you will accompany me, mademoiselle,' he said with a
hint of sarcasm, 'perhaps we can be on our way/
'Oh yes, of course.' She pulled herself hastily together. Til be very grateful for a lift home, thank you.'
'On one condition!' Lisa looked up quickly, and immediately regretted the effect it had on her aching head. 'I have no intention of becoming a captive audience,' he warned. 'If you attempt to deliver whatever warning you mentioned last night at my father's house, I shall have not the slightest compunction in stopping the car and putting you out. Is that understood? If I drive you to your home it is only on the understanding that you behave with more courtesy than you did last night when you forced your way into our property uninvited.'
Having already decided that doing as he suggested was out of the question in the circumstances, Lisa took exception to his warning, and made no effort to conceal the fact Her face flushed with warm colour, she looked up at him with a sparkle of indignation in her eyes and her chin at an angle, despite her throbbing head.
'We were both lacking courtesy last night, Mr ben Dacra,' she said, her voice slightly shaky. 'You have no cause to suggest that my manners are any worse than yours, just because I had a very good reason for acting as I did last time we met.'
He took her reproach narrow-eyed and there was a tight firmness about his mouth that suggested to Lisa that beneath that smoothly confident manner of his there lurked a quite formidable temper. He held her gaze for a moment and with such unmistakable scorn that it was she who eventually yielded and lowered her eyes.
He turned and opened the front passenger seat door, indicating that she should get in, and while she hesitated for just a moment, he said something to the two men just behind him. They glanced at Lisa while he spoke and she guessed he was explaining as much o
f the outcome as he thought necessary. Then the one who seemed
to be the spokesman for them both inclined his tur-banned head slightly in her direction and murmured something in Arabic, before turning to follow his companion.
Even in their dusty white serwal and simple shirts they had a curiously touching dignity, and they had come willingly to her aid apparently, so that she spoke up quickly before they walked out of earshot. Td like to thank them for helping me/ she said, and looked to Yusuf ben Dacra to help her. 'Will you do that for me, please?'
He nodded shortly, then called after the two men in their own tongue. They turned slowly and listened to what he had to say, then gravely inclined their heads, murmuring deprecation of their own attempts to help her, before once more going on their way. Watching them go, Lisa aljnost started visibly when she felt a hand under her arm, urging her into the passenger seat, and she looked up into the dark, impatient face of Yusuf ben Dacra.
She yielded to its persuasion after one brief rueful glance at her own small car, crumpled and useless against the rock she had inadvertently driven into. Settled into the deep comfort of soft leather, she found it hard not to relax, and she glanced from the corner of her eye at him when he slid into the seat beside her.
He must have noticed her expression when she saw her own car and as he started the engine he too glanced across at the wreck. 'You see how fortunate you were not to be much more seriously injured, mademoiselle,' he said. Lisa did not reply, having remarked on his persistent reminders of the fact already, and he went on, 'I doubt very much if your car is worth recovering, but probably you will wish to notify a garage when you return in case something can be salvaged from the wreck.'
Lisa had a genuine affection for her old car, though she doubted very much if a man like Yusuf ben Dacra would appreciate such a sentiment. Nevertheless she expressed her own regret in the words that came to her instinctively. 'I was very fond of old Lizzie/ she said, and caught his swift sideways glance from the corner of her eye.
Close to the Heart Page 3
